John Cale

After leaving the Velvet Underground, Cale set off on an epic solo career, starting with the Warner Bros LP Paris 1919, which created a new template in popular music, using sweeping orchestral arrangements on fine guitar and piano based pieces. A move to Island Records saw Cale appear on Nick Drake's Bryter Layter and work with Roxy Music's creative heart, Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera, on the records Fear, Slow Dazzle and Helen of Troy. The three LPs are complied on a 2CD compilation, The Island Years and feature some savage proto-punk, peerless avant-pop and moments of melodic beauty.

Cale also produced the first Stooges LP and wrote and produced for the doomed Nico, after her departure from the Velvets. He continues to record and tour.